Sunday, December 30, 2012

Combine dry ingredients in bowl. Add water/butter mixture and blend well. Add egg, slightly beaten. Knead for 6-8 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, turn once and cover with a clean cloth. Let rise until double. Punch down and divide into thirds. Roll out each third into a circle and then cut into 12 pie-shaped pieces with a rolling pizza cutter or knife. Roll each pie-shaped piece into a crescent and let rise again on baking dish. It also works to just make round balls of dough for the rolls.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

After the shock, horror, and grief all of us felt over the
events of this past week, I began to look for the blessings they brought into
my life and the lives of those around me.

Our daughter-in-law squeezed her first-grader’s hand and
gave her an extra hug and kiss as she walked her into school. “I’m so grateful
that my children are well and alive, and my heart is broken for those who have
lost loved ones,” she said.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

A new book by Christy Monson is a wonderful piece of fiction for young children. “Texting through Time: John Taylor and the Mystery Puzzle” is also a useful tool for parents who want to teach their youngsters about the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the sacrifices of the early Mormon pioneers.

Alicia and Micah are young children with a fascination for church history. Their father recently developed a cell phone that allows people to travel through time. The children have already used this tool to visit Brigham Young in the first book it the series, and they tell their father they would like to use the phone this time to visit the prophet and third president of the LDS Church, President John Taylor.

Their father is skeptical at first because he has learned of a few glitches the phone has. He tells his kids he will go with them. But when the phone is activated, it only takes Alicia and Micah to England, the place where John Taylor was born.

Alicia and Micah meet John Taylor as a child. After playing war games with him and his friends, Alicia and Micah decide they should go home and see their father. The phone will not transport the children back home, however, until they finish a puzzle.

The puzzle makes the children travel throughout the entirety of President Taylor’s life. They go with him to Canada where he was a Methodist preacher. They also go to Nauvoo, Ill., after he was shot in Carthage Jail.

The most poignant part of the book comes when President Taylor describes the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith to Micah and Alicia. Children reading the book will not only understand the gravity of the situation, but they will appreciate Joseph Smith and his sacrifices on a much higher level.

The combination of time travel, cell phones and church history makes this book appealing to young children.

Monson does an excellent job intertwining scriptures into the book as well. The scriptures are placed in such a context that children will be able to understand them easily.

Shelby Scoffield has a bachelor's in English from Brigham Young University and a master's in rhetoric and composition from Stanislaus State University. She is currently working on her teaching credentials so she can teach high school English.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

I have had over 3,000 views on this post, so I decided to show the entire picture process.

Toffee Recipe
2 squares better

1c. sugar

5 T. water

Vanilla

Stir well. Put on high heat and don’t turn the head down. It
takes about 15 minutes to make it. (I’ve made it in my electric frying pan and
it works well, but I really like it best cooked in my cast iron frying pan.)
Cook until it starts to burn, stirring constantly, and then add a little vanilla.
Pour on a marble slab. (If you don’t have a marble slab, pour it onto a cookie
sheet. I set it on a bread board because the candy is so hot.) Before pouring
onto marble you may spread broken pecans, walnuts or sliced coconut on the
marble and pour toffee over it. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top and
spread when melted. After it cools, break it into pieces.

When you’ve made it a few times, you’ll be able to tell when it starts to
burn. I tell by watching the bubbles as the candy cooks. When they begin to let
off little puffs of smoke, it’s burning. You can also tell by the color. It
needs to turn a caramel color.